Looking for Alaska by John Green

from goodreads

3 stars

Here is a secret pet peeve of mine. I am not even sure I have shared this with my husband. I hate when I see the name John spelled with out the "H". I mean what is this, Jon. Grossarama (that is my new word, what do you think?) I think John looks so much more distinguished and polished. Now, I'm sure that there are plenty of Jon's out there who are very nice fellows indeed. I just need to make sure I never see them spell their name, or I will never think highly of them again, or at least I will never think of them without being a little squirmy on the inside. So, a big thank you to John Green's parents for putting the "H" in there. It is much appreciated.

Synopsis

Miles "Pudge" leaves his boring life in Florida to go to boarding school at Culver Creek in Alabama, in hopes to experience the great perhaps. There he makes good friends for the first time in his life and is attracted to a girl named Alaska. After a tragic accident Pudge and his friends discover how to navigate life and discover its meaning.

My Thoughts

This is a really well written book. There are no gaps in the story and the characters are fairly well developed. It is superbly captures teen life. It sort of reminds me of the movie 16 Candles or Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in the way that the dialogue is written. Fast paced and witty.

I like that the chapter headings are X many days before and then X many days after. You get the sense of things leading up to something and then ebbing away.

So after those two paragraphs you are probably wondering why I gave it a 3. Well, this book just didn't hold my interest all that much. I think it is one of those books where if I read it as a teenager, or perhaps after a tragedy in my life, I might have related more to the characters and enjoyed it more. The characters were such that I didn't really care about them or their story really. I also didn't like all the smoking, alcohol abuse and randomly thrown in swearing. Perhaps I am becoming too much of a square, but the whole time I'm like "hello, lungs and livers are good things to keep healthy. Smoking and drinking do not make you cool and mature".

I found this book really hard to give a rating because it is very masterfully crafted and thought out, yet, it just didn't hold my interest. I think your teenager would like it though. The subject might peak their interest more than it did mine.